Connor Rix Chronicles 1: Rules of Force (19 page)
Read Connor Rix Chronicles 1: Rules of Force Online
Authors: Steve Statham
21
Vinicius Cunha
awoke.
At first he
couldn't place the unfamiliar feeling that commanded his body. He attempted to
move his arms, then his legs. They barely responded. With great effort, he
moved his head to the side, but he still wasn't sure what he was viewing. He
closed his eyes, and concentrated.
Weakness. That
was what he was feeling. It had been so long since he had felt a lack of
physical strength that he had forgotten the sensation. He no longer felt the
power of his limbs, the sure power he had taken for granted for so long.
There was more.
Besides the debilitating feebleness, he slowly realized he was constrained
somehow, not in control of his own movements. But even beyond that, something
wasn’t right.
He forced
himself to concentrate. This time, he knew, he was truly awake. And he was…
floating? Yes, floating against straps of some sort, and as he came to that
realization he also became aware of his stomach drifting on its own independent
course within his body.
He broke through
to full consciousness with a sudden rush, thrashing against his bonds.
His head
twitched frantically from side to side. With wide eyes he tried to take in his
surroundings. Impressions quickly echoed in his mind, jumbled thoughts.
Small.
Trapped.
The nightmare
again! I've been here, seen this place before, but when?
It felt to him
as if he had been here for a long time, but how was that possible? He had
snatched glimpses of this metal room from rare near-waking moments — so
few of them, spread out over a long time.
How long have
I been here?
Then he saw what
looked like a window on the wall to his left. Was it a window? There was
nothing but black on the other side...
And then he saw
the small lights, twinkling against the infinite blackness. The room he was
confined in rotated slowly, and he saw the yellowish arc of an unfamiliar world
move across the frame of the window.
His mouth moved
wordlessly. A thin sheen of sweat rose to his forehead. Consciousness slipped
from his grasp once more.
Some time later
he awoke again, this time to the sound of an insistent chime. His eyes dully
followed the sound to its source, and when he found it, a flash of light locked
onto his gaze. The image of a face fluidly coalesced in front of him. Vinicius
almost recognized the man, but could not pull the name from his memory. Someone
famous. Someone he should know.
The man spoke.
"And so,
Vinicius Cunha, at last you meet your destiny. Do you know me? It occurs to me
that you may not, that you may know nothing of the world beyond your own little
steroid business. So let me introduce myself. I am the man you have wronged.
You have stolen from me, and murdered my friends and employees. I am Alexander
Rohm.
"And you?
You are aboard the
Alamogordo Sunrise
on
your way to the punishment for your crimes. If this is frightening to you, take
solace in this — you are being accorded a singular honor by the method of
your execution, an honor you emphatically do not deserve.
"You must
be confused — allow me to explain. One of your victims at the Forward
Aeronautics facility was Allen Venway, a man you viciously killed without a
thought. But Venway was no ordinary man. He was a man of unparalleled genius, a
man on the cusp of delivering astounding gifts to mankind. He was a man who was
about to deliver the stars themselves to us.
"Do you
understand how far away it is to even the nearest star? The unfathomable
distances that we call light years? And how difficult it would be to travel
beyond our solar system? For all of human history it has been, frankly, an
impossible dream. But Venway's research was leading him to a breakthrough in
faster-than-light technology. We as a species were on the verge of being able
to spread to the stars, settle new worlds, break free from our lone little
homeworld.
"But he is
gone. And there is no one else on earth capable of continuing his research.
"Now do you
see it? Can you conceive of the enormity of your crime?
You have stolen the
stars from mankind.
"
Vinicius Cunha
stared at the man's image, unable to turn away. He could not tell if he was
hallucinating or if what he was seeing was really happening. The capsule he was
trapped in began vibrating slightly. The large world beyond the window grew
larger and filled the view.
"Since you
have stolen a great spark of intelligence from the world, your execution shall
at least provide a modicum of knowledge in return. Vinicius, you are about to
be the first human being to land on the surface of Venus. And by doing so, you
will answer some very interesting questions.
"Which will
kill you first? Will the intense atmospheric pressure crush you? Standing on
the surface will feel like being a kilometer under one of Earth's oceans. Or
will the extreme heat be your end? That would be my guess. At the spot where
you'll be landing, the temperature is over 800 degrees Fahrenheit. But perhaps
the sulfuric acid in the atmosphere will melt the flesh from your bones and
bring your life to its fatal conclusion. This should be all the more
fascinating given your Modified physique."
Vinicius was
lucid enough to realize this was a recording, but still could not shake the
feeling that the man was in the capsule with him, conversing in real-time.
Rohm's eyes bored in to him, unrelenting.
"I'll be
watching."
Vinicius slipped
back into unconsciousness, but the increasing vibration of the capsule jostled
him awake once more. He looked out and saw flames flying past the window, and
the deep night of space give way to the yellow atmosphere of Venus. Gravity
pressed in on him.
After some time
— he had no idea how much — there was a sharp jolt and the
acceleration slowed dramatically. As the capsule swung in the wind, he could
see the parachutes above him through the window. He drifted for an interminably
long time and then felt a shuddering impact as the capsule reached land.
The bands that
held him constrained fell away.
And then the
hatch slid open and all of Venus poured inside.
Vinicius Cunha
screamed.
The End
Acknowledgments
Heartfelt thanks
to my wife Robyn, who supported my writing efforts and made me believe I could
actually finish this book, especially during periods when I wasn't so sure it
would all come together.
Also due a
hearty handshake and a slap on the back is my good friend Rob Reaser. Rob was
working on his own debut novel at the same time I was tapping out
Rules of
Force.
His encouragement and advice kept
the motivational fires burning, and his editing skills were indispensable to
the final product.
Special thanks
also go out to Mark Potter, who created the outstanding cover for this book.
Few things are as gratifying for a writer as seeing just the right cover teamed
with his novel.
Rules of Force
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and
incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used
fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or
dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2011 by Steve Statham
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this
book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
Published in the United States by Statham Communications
LLC
Cover design by
Mark Potter Studios
About the author
Steve Statham began his
writing career in the car magazine world, pounding out stories about
automobiles with too much horsepower. Steve's youthful interest in fast cars
eventually led to a 20-year career in automotive journalism. He is the author
and primary photographer of 13 non-fiction books on automotive subjects, and
was the editor of
Musclecar Enthusiast
magazine for many years. He has had hundreds of feature, technical and travel
articles published in dozens of magazines.
But always, perched on the
nightstand, were battered paperbacks by Robert E. Howard, Fritz Leiber, Robert
Heinlein, J.R.R. Tolkien, Larry Niven, Robert Silverberg, Dan Simmons, Vernor
Vinge and others. Steve vowed to one day join their ranks.
Rules of Force
is the first book in Steve's Connor Rix series of
science-fiction thrillers.
For more on Steve, visit
his website at:
Also by Steve Statham
Available on
Kindle
Book 2 of the
Connor Rix Chronicles
Book 3 of the
Connor Rix Chronicles